Monthly Journal Challenge – March 2019

Write a Letter to your Teenage Self

This month’s journal challenge is a little slow in coming! I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with what to write about. I came across this idea and really liked it, since I am just entering the realm of having teenagers of my own. It was really helpful for me to sit and ponder what kinds of things were challenges to me when I was a teenager. It helped me put into perspective what my own daughters might be thinking. (Well, maybe!) Take a little time to reflect on your own teenage years and what consumed your world. What would you say to your teenage self if you could? Take a few minutes and write it down. We can’t go back in time and make things different, but this may be something you can share with your own teenage children and/or grandchildren now or in the future! Be brave, be honest, be you!

Dear Me as a Teenager,

I wish you could see yourself in 25 years! But since youcan’t, I’m going to give you a little advice to help you get there!

First of all, you don’t need to worry so much about whether you will find Mr. Right. You do! And you still love each other very much! You’ve overcome a lot together, and it has brought much strength into your marriage. You’ve learned how to forgive each other and look for the best in each other. It hasn’t always been easy, but because you both promised each other when you married that you would never consider divorce, you have worked through every difficult time together. So don’t worry about that anymore!

Secondly, I know how much you worry about serving a mission and how that terrifies you beyond description! You feel like you should want to do that, but you really don’t want to. Well, it’s okay, because God has a plan for you that includes His knowledge of your fears and weaknesses. He slowly works on you over the next 25 years to prepare your heart and mind to actually desire this! He slowly builds your confidence and testimony until you just can hardly wait to serve a mission! Now you just have to be patient until the time is right.

Learn to be kinder, more patient, and less judgmental. It’s so easy to see what is wrong in the world, and with people, at first glance. Look deeper! With every person you meet, you only see the tip of the iceberg that is their life and what has shaped them into who they are now. Give everyone you meet the benefit of looking deeper. Soon you will learn to see them with new eyes, a little tiny glimpse of the way God sees us.

Please be brave! The best things are waiting to happen to you! But you have to be brave enough to take chances and do things that are out of your comfort zone. Right now your comfort zone is very small, but the more you step out of it, the bigger it will grow, and you will do amazing things!

Learn how to cook meals now! It will save you a lot of frustration and burned dinners! And learn to make wise and healthy choices. It’s so much harder to undo years of unhealthy habits than to just be healthy always.

Pray EVERY single day! And read the scriptures EVERY single day! And don’t ever doubt the reality of God and your Savior! Do everything you can to live close to them and your life will always have joy, no matter what difficulties you’ll have to go through.

Visit your grandparents more, and learn all you can from them. Write these things down and keep them safe so you can pass them on! Treasure your parents and see past the everyday interactions to your eternal ties to them and love and appreciate them for all the things they sacrifice for you!

Oh, and one last thing! Just be you. Don’t try to be what others want you to be. Be who you know you are inside, who God created you to be. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, either. They are not final. And when you do make mistakes, and you will, FORGIVE YOURSELF AND MOVE FORWARD! Don’t listen to the world, listen to the whisperings of the Spirit. You know you are great. You know you are strong. You know you are a child of God, who rules the universe and beyond. Be that grand person that deep down inside you already know you are!

Your life is going to be great, because you’ll make it that way! You are awesome!